Today Intel is announcing their Core i7 “Broadwell-E” high-end desktop (HEDT) processors! We have been talking about these processors for a while now and they are finally here! The really big announcement is that the flagship processor, the Core i7-6950X will be a 10-core, 20-thread beast! This is the first time there has been a desktop processor with 10 cores! It is pretty crazy that we only went to dual core back in 2005!

So getting right into specifications here as I said the Core i7-6950X will have 10 cores and 20 threads. It also has a 25MB cache, 40 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes, a clock speed of 3.0 GHz and a turbo boost up to 3.5 GHz. Next is the Core i7-6900K, it is an 8-core / 16-thread CPU that has a clock speed of 3.2 GHz and boosts up to 3.7 GHz. It will have a 20 MB cache and the same 40 PCI-Express lanes. The third processor is the Core i7-6850K which is a 6-core / 12-thread CPU with 15 MB cache and a clock speed of 3.6 GHz which boosts up to 3.8 GHz. It has a 15 MB cache and the same 40 PCI-Express lanes. Finally we have the 4th processor which is the Core i7-6800K. It is a 6-core / 12-thread processor with 15MB cache and a clock speeds of 3.4 GHz with a boost up to 3.6 GHz. Unlike the other three processors the Core i7-6800K will only have 28 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes.

As far as pricing goes the top-end Core i7-6950X will be $1723, the Core i7-6900K will be $1089, the Core i7-6850K will be $617, and the Core i7-6800K will be $434. All four processors have a DDR4 memory controller that supports DDR4-2400 memory by default, that is a step up from the DDR4-2133 that we saw with Haswell-E. All four processors also feature Intel’s new Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and will have a 140W TDP. Intel’s Turbo Boost 3.0 technology allows for applications to be steered to the highest-performing core, giving single-threaded experiences a huge performance boost.

We of course know that these HEDT processors are used for rendering so how does Broadwell-E compare to the previous generation? Intel says that you will see up to 35% better performance vs. the previous generation and up to 2X better performance vs. 4 cores.

HEDT processors are also the favorite of gamers, especially people who want to get the most out of their system. Here are some of the gaming stats.

Intel is also very committed to overclockers and is introducing three new overclocking features with these processors. The include Per Core Overclocking, AVX Ratio Offset, and VccU Voltage control.

Intel’s new Broadwell-E processors are extremely impressive and will become the go-to processors for content creators, professional gamers, and many other people looking for the best desktop performance.